Freeman Dyson Takes a swipe at climate change science

by Joe Archive on May 26, 2008

a href=”http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/05/freeman-dysons-selective-vision/”From Realclimate.org/abr /br /blockquoteIn the New York Review of Books, Freeman Dyson reviews two recent ones about global warming, but a href=”http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21494″his review/a is mostly shaped by his own rather selective vision. 1. iCarbon emissions are not a problem because in a few years genetic engineersbr /will develop “carbon-eating trees” that will sequester carbon in soils./i/blockquotei/iThere is a lot of criticism of Dyson’s article here – a lot of it probably valid. But some people seem to be writing off everything Dyson says based upon his involvement with the pie-in-the-sky a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29″Orion Project/a.br /br /There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the Orion concept. It might not be the best engine design we have (and would probably never be usable in our atmosphere) but it is a good idea.br /br /We should take our own advice, and stick to talking about our areas of expertise – leave the nuclear physics to the nuclear physicists ;).br /br /Generally, I imagine that the trees Dyson talks about are probably somewhere in our future – the question is whether the trees would come quick enough to stop problems if we just go on with business as usual.br /br /There is no reason not to pursue ideas like this – all ideas should be pursued to some degree. The danger lies in reliance upon one solution alone.

Related

Contact Details

Not so much a corner as a small segment of a line tangential to the boundary of the internet. Supposedly a blog focused on my work in atmospheric physics (as well as other physics stuff I find interesting) - with the occasional clip or cartoon that I cannot resist posting...